


There's No Dying in Dodgeball

by stroke_of_genius



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Fluff, dodgeball au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-06 23:21:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15896211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stroke_of_genius/pseuds/stroke_of_genius
Summary: University dodgeball is a very serious sport. No, really.





	There's No Dying in Dodgeball

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off of the pjo dodgeball au myself and tumblr user pipersgay (HolyHangnail on here) devised.

A whistle blew.

Silena pushed herself off the ground in a fluid motion. She ran to the back, teammates streaming past her as they beelined for the half-court line. Near the wall, the slower shaggers were already forming ranks, readying themselves as players grabbed dodgeballs from the center of the room and rushed towards them.

“TEAM UP!” Coach Hedge shouted, and she could hear a few huffs of annoyance, but nonetheless players nodded or got closer to the other member of their pair.

One of the first to reach the back wall was Annabeth, who briefly touched her rubber dodgeball to it, then turned around 360 degrees, throwing it and hitting an opponent square in the chest.

Next to Silena, Clarisse touched her own ball to the wall, then said a quick, “Good luck.”

“You too” barely left her mouth when Clarisse had already thrown her ball, narrowly missing someone on the other side, then rushed off to the corner of the court.

Silena tried not to be too distracted by this. Clarisse rarely missed a shot, especially early in the match, before players were able to position themselves and feel the rhythm of the game. She also hadn’t said hi earlier like she usually did.

Silena barely dodged a ball lodged at her, stopping it as it bounced off the wall. Looking around for a thrower who was empty handed, she made eye contact with Percy and held it out as he came running by to take it from her.

That was close; she needed to concentrate.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Clarisse miss another throw that should’ve been a piece of cake for her. What was wrong?

Silena realized there was something flying at her face a moment too late.

Pain coursed through her, and she let out a scream. Something warm and wet coated her upper lip, and a sharp metallic flavor filled her mouth.

Holy shit that was blood and everything hurt a whole lot fuck fuck fuck.

There were shouts all around her, followed by two screeches of the whistle. She cradled her face, and felt a few pain-induced tears roll down her cheeks.

“Oh my god! Silena! What are you all doing? Call an ambulance! MOVE!” Clarisse’s shouts rose above all the panicked chattering. Everything else quieted down, and Silena heard Coach Hedge on the phone.

Warm, strong arms wrapped around her, and Clarisse’s voice came again, closer and softer this time. “You’re gonna be fine. We’ll have you in a hospital and in great shape before you know it, don’t worry.”

She stood there in Clarisse’s arms until she was let go and told to follow the coach.

 

* * *

 

 

Silena smiled down at her phone as a flood of texts came in, all exclaiming victory and wishing her a fast recovery. She laid in a hospital bed, head tilted back, an ice pack held against her nose with her free hand.

The door burst open.

Clarisse walked through, hair stuck to her face and her shirt drenched with sweat. She seemed wired, like the adrenaline from their game hadn’t worn off yet. She stopped in front of the bed, and Silena took note of the way her wet self-cutoff tee clung to her skin.

“You know, I can break that guy’s nose for you back, if you want.”

Silena clicked off her phone with a thumb. “I appreciate it, but it’s fine.”

“I might anyways.”

“Well, at least I properly discouraged you,” she said, straightening up and trying to sound teasing through the blood clogging her nose. It wasn’t exactly the most attractive voice.

Clarisse rocked back on her heels, looking up at the ceiling. “So, how bad is it?”

In reply, Silena removed the ice pack obscuring her nose.

“Jesus Christ Silena!” She moved closer immediately, staring at it.

“It’s not as bad as it looks. I don’t need any surgery, but yeah, the swelling is pretty nasty. I’m just waiting for the doc to come back with my prescription for pain meds.”

“What an asshole, purposefully aiming for your face.”

“Don’t you do that at people who can’t duck?”

“Only if they’re dicks. Or I don’t know them.”

Silena laughed, bringing her ice pack up to her nose. She tried to convince herself it was only because of doctor’s orders and had nothing to do with being self-conscious. “I heard you rained some hell down on the other team after I left.”

“They were like snails, it’s embarrassing that you got hit at all.”

Silena winced, and Clarisse seemed to have realized what she’d said. “No! You’re not embarrassing; you’re a great team asset. I meant, I’m embarrassed. With myself. For not taking them all out sooner.” Her face was a dark red now.

Silena put a hand on her, but it didn’t appear to help much. If anything, she was more embarrassed. “It’s alright, I’m just glad it got you pulled back into the game. You seemed kind of out of it earlier.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me.”

She cocked her head, “Okay, well now you definitely have to tell me what was up.”

Clarisse rolled her eyes, “It was just this dumb thing with Yew and a car some teacher was selling. It’s not important.” She shifted, looking down at Silena’s hand on her arm. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

 _I'm glad you're here_ was the first thing that popped into Silena’s head, but it was dumb and cheesy, so a quiet “thanks” came out instead.

“And I’m sorry I couldn’t stay with you. No quitting in dodgeball unless you can’t move or see and all that shit. I gave ‘em plenty of nasty bruises for you though, don’t worry.”

Silena squeezed her arm, looking solemnly into her eyes. “You have avenged me.”

It lasted about a second until Silena’s lips twitched and they both started laughing, her nose throbbing from the movement.

She ran her hand down’s Clarisse’s arm until she intertwined their fingers, too nervous and impulsive to do anything more intentional. After a moment, she felt Clarisse’s fingers curl down around hers.

“I know I have a gross nose and all,” Silena said, words coming out breathy despite her best efforts, “but would you want to go out for lunch tomorrow? Like, not as friends. As in, a date.” God she was so fucking dumb.

Even though Silena wasn’t exactly winning any awards for eloquence, Clarisse had a big grin on her face. “Yeah! I mean, yeah. Yes. That sounds like fun. So long as you don’t drip blood into your food.”

“Oh, shush,” Silena said, resting her head against Clarisse’s arm. Out of all the consolation prizes the universe could’ve given her for having a dodgeball break her nose, a date wasn’t a bad one.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this drabble! If you ejoyed it, please leave a kudos and comment, and also tell me if you'd like to see more of this au, though HolyHangnail should be posting a full fic at... some point in the future.


End file.
